


Neither Can Live While the Other Survives

by emrys (livingshitpost)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: :/, ????????? - Freeform, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Afro-Indian Harry Potter, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous sexuality, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, BAMF Lily Evans Potter, Black Harry Potter, Black Hermione Granger, Canonical Character Death, Child Abuse, Child Soldiers, Dursley Bashing, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Family Dynamics, Family Feels, Found Family, Gen, Godfather Sirius Black, Harry Potter Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Harry Potter Has a Saving People Thing, Harry Potter Has a Sibling, Harry Potter is Not a Horcrux, Harry Potter is Not the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter was Raised by Sirius Black, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Bad At Tagging, Indian Harry Potter, Lily Evans Potter Lives, Lily Lives, My First Work in This Fandom, Non-White Harry Potter, POC Harry Potter, Parent-Child Relationship, Peter Pettigrew Bashing, Queer Sirius Black, Rating May Change, Severus Snape Bashing, Severus Snape Being a Bastard, Sirius Black & Lily Evans Potter Friendship, Sirius Black Free from Azkaban, Swearing, Team as Family, Verbal Abuse, Warnings May Change, What Have I Done, What Was I Thinking?, What-If, Work In Progress, actually warnings will change. if i finish this, and never did, anyway, canon? who's she, find the Motivation, for now [dun dun dun], fuck the dursleys!, harry has 47 fucking parents jesus christ, harry potter was raised by lily evans potter, harry potter was raised by lily evans potter and sirius black, i don't know her, i hate him, i hate this man!, i just gotta, i mean u do u but damn, i wrote this instead of writing my essay on the great gatsby, n stick with it, peter pettigrew is a punk bitch, quotes from canon, the only cishet is snape fuck you, too many tags, uhhhhhhhhhhh idk what this is, unlike the million other things i said i would finish, which i plan to do!, why are ppl writing fic of olympic opening ceremony voldemort alsdfjlkasjdfkljakdfj, why does nobody else use that tag this is a fucking disgrace, wizard swears
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-04 04:28:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14012190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livingshitpost/pseuds/emrys
Summary: "But the prophecy-""The prophecy spoke of someone born at the end of July, whose parents had defied Voldemort three times. It never named anyone."





	1. Lily, Unrestrained

_They had not drawn the curtains; he saw them quite clearly in their little sitting room, the tall black-haired man in his glasses, making puffs of coloured smoke erupt from his wand for the amusement of the small black-haired boy in his blue pyjamas. The child was laughing and trying to grab the smoke, to grab it in his small fist. . . ._

_He was over the threshold as James came sprinting back into the hall. It was easy, too easy, he had not even picked up his wand. . . ._

"Shit- _Lily, take Harry and go!_ " He stood his ground. " _It's him! Go! Run!_ " He raised his fists. " _I'll hold him off!_ "

_Hold him off, without a wand in his hand! . . . He laughed before casting the curse . . ._

_"Avada Kedavra!"_

_The green light filled the cramped hallway, it lit the pram pushed against the wall, it made the banisters glare like lighting rods, and James Potter fell like a marionette whose strings were cut._

She held her son to her chest. Her knuckles were white around her wand.

_He could hear her screaming from the upper floor, trapped, but as long as she was sensible, at least, she had nothing to fear. . . ._

He climbed the steps, listening with faint amusement as she attempted to calm the child.

_How stupid they were, how trusting thinking that their safety lay in friends, that weapons could be discarded for even moments. . . ._

She gently kissed her son and set him down on the floor in the closet, then breathed deeply through her nose, waiting as he opened the door and turned the corner.

She pointed her wand at his chest.

"Avada Kedavra."

_Tom Riddle hit the floor with a mundane finality, his body feeble and shrunken, the white hands empty, the snakelike face vacant and unknowing._

Lily Potter fell to her knees and let her wand fall. It rolled a short distance and bumped into the door to the closet Harry was hiding in.

He started to cry.


	2. Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place

Sirius was making tea in his sweatpants and a faded  _Queen_ shirt when he heard frantic knocking at the front door. He slowly reached down to pull his wand out of his sock.

"Who's there?"

"Padfoot, it's Flower."

"Prove it."

"When we were in our fifth year, Frank Longbottom asked why we called Moony what we do, and you told him it was because he showed his arse on a dare."

He lowered his wand and bit his lip. "Yeah, that's you alright," he sighed. The door unlocked and opened with a wave of his wand, and standing there was his best friend's wife, face blotchy and red, shoulders shaking, holding her crying son in her arms.

"Merlin's beard, what happened to you?"

She didn't answer at first. "Take Harry for a moment, I need to wash up."

He nodded. "You know where the bathroom is."

"Thank you."

Sirius put his godson on his hip, bouncing him gently. "Shh, it's alright. It's okay. Padfoot's here."

He buried his face in his godfather's shirt. His screaming cries began to quiet.

"That's it, that's it. Good boy. C'mon. We're gonna go sit together, okay?"

Harry didn't look up, but he nodded, sniffling.

"Okay."

"Doggy?"

"You want doggy?"

Harry nodded again.

"Your wish is my command." Sirius sat down on the floor and transformed himself, crouching down to look up at Harry, who giggled as he sniffed his face. He curled up and let the boy pet him while he waited for Lily to return.

"Sirius."

His ears perked up when he heard his name, and he turned himself back into a man. "Yes?"

Lily looked like she had just had to swallow a particularly bitter potion. "He came for us."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my writing feels so sTALE but ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ here we go anyway lmao,


	3. Bad Things Happen to Good People

Putting Harry to bed was easy. Telling him that James would be there in the morning, however, was difficult.

"Where is he?" Sirius spoke softly in the hallway.

"Godric's Hollow."

"Packing?"

"No. He's-" Her voice threatened to break. She steadied herself. "He's dead. But it was the only way to get Harry to sleep." She sighed through her nose. "I hate lying to him."

Sirius was silent for a moment.

"I'm sorry, Sirius."

"Don't be. You did everything you could."

"You two were best friends."

"So were you."

Lily looked up at him.

He held out his arms. "C'mere."

And she collapsed.

She tried to stay quiet as he guided her back to the living room and sit her down. But as Sirius held her close to his chest, she began to let herself openly weep. Her sobs echoed through the empty room. He stroked her hair and spoke softly to her, but didn't try to stop her. He simply held her while she got it out.

"It should've been me," she said between sobs.

"No, Lil, you did what you could."

"He didn't deserve to die, he was a good man."

"I know. And you're a good woman. You didn't deserve to die either, and I'm glad that at least one of you made it out of there alive."

She let out a shuddery sigh and wiped her eyes with a sniffle. "Thank you, Sirius."

"Of course. Now go on, get to bed. You've had a rough night."

She nodded. "Alright."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let ppl have emotions and also be able to kick serious ass 2k18


	4. Die Before You Betray Your Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do u really expect me to believe that sirius suspected remus of being in kahoots w tommy _and_ still didn't know by the time they found peter's finger at the scene of the crime??????? bc if u do oh boy do u have another thing comin. i mean he's a dumbass but he's not fuckin stupid. cmon.  
>  anyway i'm trying to stick as close to canon as i can but jesus christ that is just unacceptable what was joanne thinking smfh

"That conniving little toad."

"That's an insult to toads, Sirius." Lily looked up from giving Harry a small bowl of cereal. "Wait, who are we talking about?"

"Pettigrew." He spat the name like it left a vile taste in his mouth. "He was your and James's Secret Keeper. He's the only one who could have told You Know Who." He sighed and covered his mouth with one hand. "Fuck. If I hadn't suspected Remus . . ."

"Hey. If I'm not allowed to blame myself, then neither are you." She bent over to pick up a small handful of Honey Nut Loops that Harry had knocked onto the floor and blew on them instinctively before giving them back to her son.

"Fine. Vermin, then."

"That's much more fitting." She stood and retrieved a bowl for herself from the cabinet. "The man's an insult to rats."

"He's barely a man."

"My point still stands." She paused. "You want cereal?"

He sighed through his nose. "Sure."

She poured him a bowl and slid it across the table, along with the milk carton from the fridge.

"I like what you've done with the place."

Sirius shrugged. "Some of these muggle appliances are just more practical than wizard shit." He took a bite. "Besides," he said, mouth full, "if it stops working, I can just enchant it to do the same thing."

"I think that's misuse of muggle artifacts."

"It's only misusing it if I enchant the fridge to make things hot. And that's just stupid." He pointed with his spoon for emphasis. "I've got a perfectly good stove."

"Is it misusing it if you make potions on the stove?"

Sirius mulled that over for a moment. "Nah, I wouldn't think so."

"Muma?"

Lily turned to her son. "Yes, love, what is it?"

"Daddy?"

Her and Sirius's stomachs turned to lead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't know how writing works ok just. go w it


End file.
